This research was designed to examine age-related and gender-related patterns in the judgments of children and early adolescents about hypothetical behaviors of friends and unfamiliar peers. Thirty-eight children, 43 younger early adolescents, and 31 older early adolescents were presented with eight scenarios that portray an actor whose behavior affects the respondent. Scenarios varied according to the status (friend or unfamiliar peer) and intention (good or neutral) of the actor and the outcome (good or bad) of the actor's behavior for the respondent. Participants were asked to recall each scenario and to rate the appropriateness of the actor's behavior in each. Recall both of intentions and of outcomes was associated with ratings. Significant differences in ratings related to actors'status and intentions were found for girls but not for boys. The strongest positive bias toward friends was found in the ratings of younger early adolescent girls.The examination of children's and adolescents' social information processing abilities has provided researchers with valuable information about the ways in which children and adolescents think about and respond to others (e.g., Cirino & Beck, 1991;Dodge & Price, 1994). Previous research that has examined social information processing, which focuses on the processing of information pertaining to social relationships, has focused on popularity status. That research revealed that children who are ignored or rejected by peers process social information less effectively than do more popular children (Dodge, Pettit, McClaskey, & Brown, 1986) and that liked peers'behaviors tend to be interpreted more positively than do the behaviors of disliked peers (Hymel, 1986).

Gender and ethnic patterns in ratings and assessments of four dimensions of friendship qualities were investigated (emotional attachment, support, shared activities, and conflicts) with 122 Anglo-American and Mexican American early adolescents (63 girls; mean age 10.36 years), as were links between ratings and assessments. Participants named a favorite friend, rated their perceptions of the hypothetical behaviors of that friend or an unfamiliar peer in scenarios that varied by actor's intention and outcome of the actor's behavior on the participant, and completed two measures designed to assess friendship quality. Girls, but not boys, rated friends' behaviors as more positive than the similar behaviors of unfamiliar peers and reported higher levels of attachment and support in their friendships. Similar rating patterns were found for Anglo-American and Mexican American participants. In addition, ratings of friends' behaviors in scenarios that presented neutral intentions were correlated with the level of emotional attachment reported in the friendship.According to social cognitive perspectives (Bandura, 1986), thoughts about others can be influenced by relationships with them. Dodge and Price (1994) extended that idea to propose that processing of information about other people goes through a series of stages. Those stages include encoding relevant stimulus cues; interpreting the cues and storage into long-term memory; accessing various behavioral responses to the interpreted cues; evaluating the responses that have been accessed; and finally, enacting the behavioral response chosen. Accurate processing at all five stages is necessary for socially competent behavior. Because sociocultural theory posits that there are cultural differences in the ways in which children are socialized to inter-405